Aiming for a Cozy Life in a Dangerous Forest in Another World! - Chapter 34
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- Chapter 34 - This Time, I Will Explore for Sure
Chapter 34: This Time, I Will Explore for Sure
The next morning, I set off to explore the forest again.
Heading west, just like yesterday.
Yesterday, I ended up focusing on testing my aura, changing conditions and waiting to be attacked by magical beasts, so I didn’t get to explore much.
So, it was just Rin and me today.
Kaito was training to improve the precision of his movements and increase the variety of his attacks with 『Physical Enhancement』, while Pola was aiming to increase the power and accuracy of 『Ice Bullet』, her primary attack method.
They had shown me the results of their training after we got back yesterday, and even I, a complete amateur, could see how much they had improved.
…They really were amazing.
By the way, Kaito told me not to hunt unless it was dangerous or if we found something rare because we wouldn’t be able to eat all the meat.
Well, I didn’t want to kill anything needlessly, and I didn’t want the meat to go to waste either.
…But he didn’t have to emphasize it so many times. He even told Rin to keep an eye on me…
Shaking off that thought, I exited the base and entered the western part of the forest.
I was wearing the forest exploration style I had come up with yesterday.
My goal was to find new magical beasts and monsters, so I needed to conceal my aura.
But that just meant the only things that would appear were those familiar rabbits and tigers…
Avoiding them without fighting was proving to be quite difficult.
If I spotted them first, I could just change course and avoid them.
The problem was when they spotted me first, which was often the case with tigers.
I wondered if they would run away if I unleashed my aura, so I gave it a try.
As expected, the tiger in front of me bolted.
…I felt like a real magical beast.
But there was a problem.
It seemed like the other magical beasts in the surrounding area had also sensed my aura and run away. I ended up wandering around for an hour looking for magical beasts.
…I wondered if I could somehow control my aura, releasing it only in a specific direction, like in front of me.
The restriction Kaito had placed on me, “no unnecessary hunting”, was weighing heavily on my mind as I continued to explore.
I mean, what he said made perfect sense. There was no point in hunting them all…
♢ ♢ ♢
I had been exploring for about two hours when I suddenly heard a cracking sound from above. The sound of my 『Automatic Defense』 activating.
I looked up and saw that bird I had seen when I first came to this world, the one with two heads, diving towards me. It bounced off my 『Automatic Defense』 and retreated to the sky.
“Tch!”
I immediately activated 『Dragon Transformation』, transforming as much of my body as possible, and dispelled the robe I had created with 『Physical Armor』.
This was my combat style, which prioritized mobility.
I was able to block the bird’s second attack with 『Automatic Defense』, but its attacks didn’t end there.
It flew up, gaining distance, then started flapping its wings furiously, aiming at the ground around me.
Something like blades came flying at me, slicing and snapping the surrounding trees. Splinters came raining down.
“Ouch! It can’t block those?!”
The blades themselves were blocked by 『Automatic Defense』, but for some reason, the flying splinters of wood pierced through my barrier, striking me repeatedly.
They didn’t seem to be dealing any damage, but they hurt.
I quickly created a 『Stone Wall』 around me to protect myself from the splinters.
Just then, the bird, both heads aligned, beaks pointed down, swooped down from above, attacking the area where my 『Stone Wall』 wasn’t protecting me.
I reacted instantly, kicking off the ground with all my might, leaping into the air and getting behind the bird.
I then spun around and kicked down at its torso.
An aerial somersault roundhouse kick.
My kick landed on the bird’s torso, near the base of its two necks, sending it crashing to the ground.
I thought that was the end of it, but the bird spread its wings, attempting to take flight again.
I landed and thrust my 『Dragon Transformation』 hand forward, focusing my will.
It felt like something was coursing through my body, from my horned head to my toes.
I channeled all my power into my hand and fired a 『Stone Bullet』 at the bird with maximum firepower.
♢ ♢ ♢
The stone bullet struck the bird, pierced through it, continued flying, and exploded after shattering several trees behind it.
…Debris rained down from the sky: dirt, small stones, splintered branches, leaves, and chunks of bird meat.
“…I overdid it. The power of magic really does increase when I use it with 『Dragon Transformation』…”
After a while, the dust settled, revealing that the area had transformed from a forest to a plain.
And near the edge of this newly created plain, I saw the bird’s carcass. It had lost its right head and right wing.
……That was definitely overkill. I did it again.
Haah…
There was no helping it now, so I approached the bird and made sure it was dead.
It had two heads, so I thought it might still be alive, even with one head gone.
But it had lost half of its body, there was no way it was still alive…
As expected, it was dead. I appraised it.
♢ ♢ ♢
『Twibald』
A two-headed lesser dragon.
Each head has its own independent will, and it can continue to act even if one of its heads is crushed.
Skillfully manipulates magic.
♢ ♢ ♢
…I see.
A lesser dragon. It wasn’t a bird, it was a dragon. A type of dragon?
If it was a dragon, then why didn’t it sense my dragon aura…?
Well, I had defeated a new magical beast, so I should be happy about that.
But wait, wasn’t a lesser dragon a magical beast?
Whenever I appraised a magical beast before, it was labeled as “magical beast”, right?
Kaito had said that the distinction between magical beasts and monsters was a bit ambiguous, so perhaps 『Appraisal』 had its own criteria for categorizing them.
So maybe it wasn’t labeled as either because it didn’t fit into either category?
Anyway, I told Rin, who was cowering at my feet, to store the Twibald.
……Wait, wasn’t Rin small?
I had thought I was just using “small” figuratively to describe how it was trembling in fear, but… had it actually gotten smaller?!
“Rin?! Are you okay? Don’t tell me you got hit by that attack and lost a chunk of your body?!”
I asked Rin, panicking, but it conveyed “Okay–” as usual.
Well, that’s good to hear, but…
After talking to Rin for a bit, it seemed like it was a skill called 『Shape-shifting』.
It could change its size within a certain range — from about the size of my fist to the size of a car.
Come to think of it, I hadn’t been paying much attention to Rin during the fight with the Blackera, but that’s how it avoided being hit…
I really needed to think about my companions before I got too caught up in battle.
At this rate, I would never be able to go exploring with Kaito and Pola. And I might even end up getting Rin hurt.
As I reflected on this, I had Rin store the Twibald and we headed back to the cave.
I wanted to ask Kaito and Label about Twibalds.
…And besides, I had blasted the entire area with my magic and the Twibald’s magic. There weren’t any living creatures left.
Speaking of which, the magic that Twibald used.
It flapped its wings, and then something like blades came flying at me…